More than 400 students from Allegan and Barry counties attended the third annual Allegan Barry Youth Summit Friday, March 18, at Gun Lake Community Church.

The Allegan County Pro Youth Team is a youth board made up of delegates from schools in Allegan County. Schools currently represented are Allegan, Fennville, Martin, Otsego, Plainwell, Saugatuck and Wayland High Schools. This year the students had the opportunity to partner with schools from Barry County Youth Leadership Summit to plan the event.

The theme this year was “Your World.” Students attended breakout sessions and heard a keynote speaker. They were energized with empowering messages reinforcing the belief that they can make a positive impact by being their best selves, inspiring them to make the best of “Your World.”

The Pro Youth Team strives to enhance the voice of youth who don’t use alcohol or other drugs, and encourage peers to be confident in that choice. While there are only a few members of each school who can be delegates, at Wayland the PYT students bring back their information to the Wahoos (making a larger Pro Youth Team at the school, just with a fun name).

The Wayland Wahoos are student leaders who are interested in changing the negatives into positives in school through purposeful actions creating positive reactions. Their focus is not solely on being above the influence, they see that as one element of being an effective leader in our school. Anyone can join The Wahoos at any time during the school year — meetings are held at 7 a.m. the first Wednesday of each month in Andrea Brown’s room.

PHOTO: Wayland Union High School Students who attended the ABYS Youth Summit:  (on floor, from left) Maddy Vacha, Jonah Thompson, Cody Johnson, Camden Ritz, Rory Myers; (on couches)  Makaila Huffman, Toni Lohroff, Eric Villarreal, Elliot Anderson, Kayd Hulst, Carter Nyp, Jacob Niemchick, Mac Carpenter; (Standing) – L to R : Savanna Riddlebaugh, Kris Ellens, Elizabeth Barnes, Olivia Myers, Trent Woodcox, Olha Shenkarenko, Arrow Kotarak, Breannan Grimes, Hannah Kloosterman, Noelle Oman, Paxton Granger and Kelsey Ryder. (Photo courtesy of Laurie Zywiczynski)